Madoka & Sayaka's Excellent Adventure
by Col. Sayaka Miki
Summary: A surprise history test catches Homura off guard. She joins forces with Sayaka and Madoka to get the job done, and how better to study history than by first-hand experience. Perhaps kidnapping a historical figure was not the wisest decision.
1. Wooden Leg and Hunted Moby Dick

Homura approached Madoka after class, as usual. This was always how she did it. It was a rehearsed routine.

"Madoka Kaname, I need you to take me to the nurse's office."

Madoka looked up from her conversation with Sayaka and Hitomi. "Huh? Oh, yes, right." She stood up. "Let's go."

It was that simple. That easy. Homura allowed herself a smile as she and Madoka walked down the hall towards the nurse's office. Even if this time Madoka looked a little worried, it was still just as perfect as every other time. Maybe, she thought, she could finally save Madoka this time around.

"Oh dear. I've already forgotten..."

Homura stopped smiling. "Forgotten? Forgotten what?"

Madoka sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I've been trying to go over everything I need for our history report at the end of the month, but it's just too much. I can't remember all the things we're doing."

Homura remembered briefly catching the teacher talk about the test. It was odd that such a big test would be so early in the school year, but she hadn't paid it any mind. She'd mastered everything that she needed to do to seem normal at school. Sure, the history test was a divergent point, seeing as it had never come up before, but... Homura froze. She'd never had to deal with a history test before, so she had no idea what to do.

"M-Madoka? Do you think... d-do you think I c-can study with you?"

Madoka turned and smiled at Homura. "Well, I guess so. The teacher had us all choose partners for the presentation before you transferred in, so I think she'd let you join me and Sayaka."

So she'd have to deal with Sayaka being around all the time. Homura let out her breath. That was something she could handle. "Wait... presentation?"

"Yeah, we're supposed to do a presentation about a famous historical figure and what they would think of modern day Mitakihara."

* * *

All perspective had been lost. Homura found herself stressing out over the history presentation more than she thought possible. She knew that if Madoka worried about it too much, she would be an easy target for Kyubey. It was a new obstacle, the likes of which she'd never faced. So she sat in Madoka's bedroom, for the first time ever, trying to read history books while Sayaka was jumping up and down on the bed. They still hadn't picked a historical figure to do their presentation on.

Madoka held up the book she was looking through. "What do you know about Abraham Lincoln?"

Sayaka stopped jumping for a moment. "Okay, he was... President? Freed the slaves, and... had a wooden leg and hunted Moby Dick."

Homura cringed.

Madoka slammed her book closed. "That's Captain Ahab."

"Oh." Sayaka shrugged and continued jumping.

Homura raised her hand. "Do you guys know when Mongols invaded China?"

Hopping off the bed, Sayaka scooped a book off the floor and opened it, flipping through quickly. "Who is Socrates?" Though she horribly butchered the name.

It took all of Homura's willpower not to strangle the blunette right then and there. "This is hopeless. Why don't we just do Joan of Arc?"

There was a short pause before Madoka spoke. "Noah's wife?"

Sayaka shook her head. "Noah wasn't French. He was Jewish."

Madoka closed her book and stood up, confronting Sayaka. "What's French got to do with it?"

"Even I know Joan of Arc was French." The blunette looked smug about knowing that, for some reason.

Madoka crossed her arms. "French? Then why is the word 'of' in her name? That's not a French word!"

Homura cut in. "Okay, let's look for someone else then."

Sayaka and Madoka both sat back down and continued looking through the various books strewn about. Homura had to hide a smile behind her book. Just being here with Madoka, acting like normal schoolgirls, was a little sliver of her dream come true. Part of her wished that it would just be like this forever. Maybe Sayaka could go home, but...

Sayaka interrupted her thoughts. "Mozart was deaf, right?"

Homura sighed. "No, that's Beethoven."

"Oh, okay. That's cause he cut off his ear, isn't it?"

"No... that was Van Gogh."

"Wasn't he an automobile manufacturer?"

"What? No. He was a painter."

"Right." Sayaka nodded like she understood, then proceeded to say something totally and unbelievably stupid. "The pancreas is the one that can be removed, right?"

Putting her book down and rubbing her forehead, Homura looked to Madoka for help. "Can you explain to her that the pancreas has nothing to do with history?"

Madoka just turned the book she was reading around so the other two could see it. "Let's do this guy. He was a historical warrior named Étienne de Vignolles. That's French for real."

Sayaka nodded. "Okay, sure, we'll do that." She looked at Homura. "See how much you can get done when you're not fooling around?"

A few minutes later, all the enthusiasm they had between the three of them was gone. Sitting at Madoka's computer, they found something quite disheartening. Madoka headdesked. "There's barely any information about him at all."

Sayaka moaned. "We'll never have a presentation ready if we can't find anyone worth doing a presentation on. We are going to fail, and you know what happens then?"

Homura wasn't sure where this tangent was headed. She looked to Sayaka. "No, what happens then?"

"Alaska!" Sayaka practically shouted. "We get shipped off to boot camp in Alaska!"

Madoka sighed. "I told you, I'm pretty sure your mom was joking. She can't send you to Alaska. You don't have a passport."

"Can't she? Can't she? You don't know my mom like I do. I told her once that a pudding she'd made tasted like mud. The next pudding was actually _made out of mud!_ Nothing is beyond her reach!"

Homura patted Sayaka on the shoulder. "I'm pretty sure mud is relatively easy to obtain." She shoved Sayaka out of the way, closing in on Madoka. "I have an idea that might be crazy, but it just might work. Let's travel back in time and get him."

Sayaka sat herself on the bed, calming down and suddenly acting rationally. "Travel back in time... and get him. That, yeah, that might work. I mean, there is the whole thing about time travel being impossible, but I'm sure we can figure something out. Yeah, I mean, we have a whole month to invent time travel. Easy."

Madoka waved her hand at Sayaka, shushing her. "How are we supposed to time travel. I don't have a phone booth or a DeLorean, and my mom will definitely not let us take the hot tub."

"What?" Homura was taken aback. "What are you talking about?" She shook her head. "No, I mean, I can time travel. We can go do it right now if- wait, you have a hot tub?"

Madoka narrowed her eyes at Homura. "Yes. What was that about time travel?"

Homura took a deep breath, and then transformed into her Magical Girl outfit. She held up her shield to show them. "This allows me to travel back through time, as well as freeze time."

Sayaka got up and leaned in close, inspecting the sand timer on the shield. "Impressive. I suppose you know it can take you back in time because you've actually used it. How far have you gone back in time."

Homura shrugged. "Just a month. Never something as much as six hundred years, but I think it should work."

Madoka smiled. "That's amazing. All Sayaka can do is heal really fast."

Sayaka grumbled, but didn't respond. She looked up at Homura instead. "Okay, so can you jump forward in time too?"

Homura felt herself starting to sweat. "I... I haven't tested that yet."

"What? Then how are we supposed to get back after we've kidnapped the guy? There's no point in travelling back in time to get him if we have to wait six hundred years to have him speak at our history presentation!" Sayaka sighed and shook her head. "Whatever. You probably can, so let's just go."

Homura felt her face heating up and turning red. "Well... I was thinking... maybe just me... and Madoka would go..."

"Screw that!" Sayaka grabbed Homura's shoulders and shook her. "I am not letting you leave me here to get an F for your failure if you guys never come back! I'd rather die in fifteenth century France than die in an Alaskan boot camp! Madoka, tell her I can go!"

But Madoka was busy watching cat videos on Youtube. Homura and Sayaka facepalmed at the same time.

Sayaka shook her head. "Just... just grab her and let's go."


	2. Perhaps I Could Be Interested

In a wide open field under a clear blue sky, a light breeze blew through the grass. A bright flash interrupted the tranquility, and three Magical Girls appeared in the middle of the field. Madoka and Sayaka looked around them, taking in their new surroundings. It seemed that Homura's magic had worked. They were certainly not where they had left from.

Homura proudly placed her hands on her hips. "How's that? Better than a hot tub, if you ask me. Even better than a DeLorean."

Sayaka nodded. "I'll give you that. Not much better, but still better than a DeLorean. Not quite as good as a phone booth, though."

Homura blinked in surprise. "How am I not as good as a phone booth?"

"Can I call home and tell my mom I might be late for dinner?"

"No, how would you- oh."

"See?" Sayaka beamed, taking in her victory. "Not as good as a phone booth."

Madoka tugged on Homura's sleeve. "Hey, um... who are they?"

Homura, along with Sayaka, turned to see an entire army standing not far off, facing them and ready for battle. Homura went pale. "Where did they come from? Why are they looking at us like that?"

Sayaka looked behind them. "Uh... guys? There's more." Homura, along with Madoka, turned to see another army directly opposite the first. What non-existent color that had remained in Homura now disappeared.

Sayaka grabbed Homura's collar and shook her. "What have you done? You've dropped us onto a battlefield! What's going on? What is this? Why couldn't I get laid before I died?"

Someone broke off from the first army and charged across the field, dashing right past the three of them. Several figures from the second army moved out to meet them. There was a brief clash, and then an explosion. As far as Homura could tell, a Witch was suddenly being born in the middle of everything, just as the two armies began to charge each other, with Madoka, Homura, and Sayaka caught right in the middle.

Sayaka was freaking out, running in circles. Madoka grabbed Homura and shouted in her ear so she could be heard over the charging armies. "We don't know how many Witches and Magical Girls are in this fight! We need to grab someone and go!"

"Grab someone?!"

Madoka growled uncharacteristically. "I am not coming all this way and risking my life in some random European battlefield to not even get someone for our presentation!"

Homura gave in. "Okay, you get Sayaka! Grab my hand as soon as you can! I'll grab the next person that runs past and jump us out."

Just as the two armies met, Madoka grabbed Sayaka's hand. One of the men at the front of the charge grabbed Sayaka's shoulder, shouting at her to get out of the way. Homura grabbed someone's wrist just as they ran by. Madoka grabbed Homura's arm.

They disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

And reappeared in Madoka's bedroom.

After nearly a minute of extremely awkward silence, Sayaka jumped on Homura. "WHAT WAS THAT?! WE COULD HAVE DIED!"

Madoka tried to put herself between the two of them, as much to protect Sayaka as Homura. "Come on, guys. Hold it together. We got out, didn't we? We're home, we're alive. And hey, Homura's time power goes forward too. Isn't that good?"

Sayaka backed off. "Alright, you're right. Just so long as we're all okay... so did we get anything out of that?" The three of them looked to find two strangers standing in the room with them. Two very confused strangers. Sayaka grunted, looking over the man. "You're not Ecchi-in-Devin-Hole."

Homura smacked the back of Sayaka's head. "Étienne de Vignolles."

The man said something in French. Sayaka and Madoka exchanged puzzled looks.

Homura turned back to her friends. "I have no idea what he said. We may have overlooked a critical flaw in our plan."

The other individual that they had brought, a young woman that Homura had grabbed, said something in English.

Homura threw her hands up in the air. "We're screwed."

Madoka cleared her throat. "Um... I kinda understood some of that." She gave Homura a sympathetic pat on the head. "Don't tell me you don't know any English. You pretty much have to know English if you want to get anywhere in business, so my mom knows it pretty well. We can get her to translate for us." She turned to the visitors and waved her hands at them, then started speaking in incredibly broken English. " _Hey_ , my... mom... knows how... to speak... _En-gu-ri-su_."

Sayaka faked wiping a tear from her eye. "Marvelous performance. Unmatched."

On the other side of the language barrier, so thick it was almost a solid wall in the middle of the room, the young woman was still trying to puzzle out what had happened to her. It sounded like one of these strange girls had said something similar to 'English', though she had utterly butchered the word. She felt disinclined to respond, instead turning to the Frenchman beside her.

"Well, we're clearly not on the battlefield anymore. Any guesses what happened?"

He seemed to have picked up on the notion that the two of them should call a temporary truce until they got their heads straight. He managed a passable English, as to be expected of someone of noble birth like he appeared to be. "Well, the way I figure it, the purple one is something of an outsider who has a mildly perverse platonic crush on the pink one who she probably made some huge sacrifice in order to be with and doesn't think to highly of the blue one. The pink one of course is completely oblivious and doesn't realize anything is up at all. The blue one acts rash and rather stupid, but secretly suspects the purple one only wants to get close to the pink one in order to get to her and is pretty sure the purple one is romantically interested in her. She's wrong, of course."

"That is not what I asked."

"Hold on, I'm getting there." He thought for a moment before continuing his assessment. "Right, so for some sort of school project, I think they have to go and get someone of notable greatness and have that person tell them what he thinks of their homeland. If I understood what they said earlier, they had intended to retrieve Étienne de Vignolles, La Hire, a comrade of mine. You've fought his daughter, I believe. Obviously, they did not expect to arrive during a battle, so they panicked and grabbed the first important person available. Myself, of course."

She absently fidgeted with her gloves. "The purple one grabbed my arm pretty hard. I think they were after me. Anyway, absolutely everything you just said is preposterous. Who even are you?"

He finally sheathed his sword. "Oh, yes, I forgot. How rude of me. My name is Gilles de Rais. And you are?"

"Just Corbeau is fine."


	3. How's a Hamburger Grab You?

"Welcome to Mitakihara's mega-mall! Feel free to get lost and explore everything! The riches of the world are at your fingertips!"

So as not to stand out, Gilles and Corbeau had been given more normal clothes to wear. Gilles was wearing clothes borrowed from Madoka's dad, because he was so close it was almost too easy. Corbeau was more difficult, and required a special touch, and that's where' Hitomi Shizuki came into the picture. Corbeau was taller than any of the girls and had a figure that wouldn't fit in even Sayaka's shirts. Even Madoka's mother's clothes weren't made for a girl so tall, so the skirt and t-shirt came from Hitomi. Madoka had never heard of the band Raven before, but the band's logo looked good on Corbeau.

Madoka only realized after she'd knocked on her parents' bedroom door for half an hour that her mom was at work almost all of nearly every day, so they would need someone else for translation. Again, Hitomi was the answer. In the first week and a half since acquiring their personages of historical importance, Madoka, Sayaka, and Homura spent all of their free time learning English. They figured that learning French was wasted, as it would serve them so little in the rest of their lives and both their guests spoke English. By now, they could all convey simple messages, and Hitomi was there to do the rest.

So, with preschool level English under their belts and good modern clothes on the presentation pieces, they entered the mall. The two tall Europeans stood out like asparagus among leeks. In spite of all their efforts, Gilles still looked like he was either from six hundred years ago or played in a band. Corbeau looked far less imposing without her mask and cloak, but just the way she moved caused people to give her a wide berth.

Other than all that, everything would have been just fine, except that one more person was present.

"So lemme get this straight. You went and got a couple of foreigners to play the parts of your history presentation subjects and when you realized that you couldn't understand a word they said you decided to commandeer _my_ history project partner?"

Sayaka nodded. "Yeah, that's about the skinny of it."

Kyoko Sakura glared over to where Hitomi was acting as an intermediary between Corbeau and a shopkeeper at a jewelry store. Kyoko grumbled. "You do realize that you're dooming me to working on this thing alone, right?"

Sayaka nodded again. "Yup. Who are you doing your presentation on?"

"We were thinking about Jesus, but apparently our teacher doesn't think he really existed." Kyoko shook her fist in the air defiantly. "So by golly we're gonna do Robin Hood!"

"Excellent." Sayaka patted her friend on the shoulder. "How about you go get to work on that. We could be a while."

After Kyoko's departure, Sayaka rejoined the main group. They were leaving the jewelry store, and of course no one had bought anything. They headed to the food market. The plan was that Madoka, Homura, and Sayaka would figure out which spots they wanted to take Gilles and Corbeau, while the two personages of historical significance had a taste of good modern Japanese food. Madoka and Sayaka wandered off to get their own food, leaving Homura and Hitomi to stand in line with their guests.

Hitomi tapped Homura's shoulder. "So, if they're supposed to tell you what they think about modern day Mitakihara, and you want them to try out modern Japanese food, how come we're standing in line at McDonald's?"

Homura shrugged. "Everyone eats McDonald's. What, were we supposed to give them mochi? That stuff's disgusting."

"You think mochi is disgusting?"

"I think rice is disgusting. They say it's good for your heart. I don't believe that for a second."

"I have literally never heard that rice is good for your heart, but I'm inclined to believe it seeing how, didn't you just get out of the hospital for a heart condition?"

"Crap, you're right. Oh well, I'm a Magical Girl now, so health isn't an issue." Homura noticed they were getting closer to the front of the line. "Okay, um, Gilles, Corbeau." She waved at them to catch their attention and then pointed to the overhead menu. "Pick whatever you want to eat. Hitomi will pay for it."

Hitomi translated into English. "All of the images above are rough representations of the different foods available here. Select what you want and Homura will cover the expenses."

Corbeau grinned. "Ah, so I was right. This is a food place. How expensive can food be, anyway?"

Hitomi smiled. "Oh, it can be pretty expensive, but Homura has it covered."

Homura cleared her throat. "Um, Hitomi? Is _Homura_ English for _Hitomi_?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact."

"Wow... I wonder how that works out."

"It's all in the minor idiosyncrasies of transliteration. The two names sound essentially the same to English-speaking people."

"Oh. Okay, well, let's try not to get them confused on which of us is which, then."

Corbeau interrupted, pointing to one of the items on the menu. Homura couldn't understand a thing she was saying. "What is that? It looks like they just crammed all sorts of meat and plants in between two pieces of bread. Do they even cook it?"

Hitomi deadpanned. "Just cause we're Asian does not mean we don't cook our food." She straightened out. "That, as a matter of fact, is the pinnacle of modern foods. It is the hamburger. This specific variant is referred to as the Big Mac, and yes the meat is cooked before it is carefully placed in with the lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, and cheese."

Gilles had also been looking at the picture, and had his own question. "Is that another slice of bread in the middle of it?"

"I... actually, I don't know. Most people just eat it without thinking too much about it." Hitomi took a deep breath before asking. "Do you both want a Big Mac?"

Gilles nodded. "It sounds like a good representation of your food as a whole, so I suppose it is the best choice for us."

"Yeah, me too." Corbeau stopped to think about it for a brief moment. "I might take out the pickles."

Hitomi turned to Homura. "They said that since it's your presentation, you should probably cover the bill."

"Of course they did." Once Homura had paid for the meals of their two guests, as well as her own and Hitomi's, they joined up with Madoka and Sayaka, who had gotten themselves a pair of sub sandwiches. They all sat down around a large table and ate. Homura tapped on the table in front of Madoka. "Okay, so we should start working out our plan, then?"

Madoka was leaning down to her sub and trying to shove the whole thing in her mouth at once. She glanced up at Homura with a look in her eyes that communicated very clearly that there was no way she was going to be able to respond. Homura looked to see that Sayaka was in pretty much the exact same position.

Homura grumbled internally. "Fine then. I'll begin." She pulled out a piece of paper, unfolded it, and laid it out on the table. "I've compiled a list of what I believe to be the best spots to hit for them to experience to the fullest modern Japanese culture."

"No, no wait!"

The three of them looked over to where Hitomi was showing their guests how to unwrap the burgers, as apparently one of them had attempted to eat it without removing the paper wrapping. Sayaka suddenly started choking on her sub, which caused Madoka to start laughing and promptly choke on her own sub.

Homura held up the paper. "Hello? Are we doing this?"

Corbeau took the first bite of her burger and shot up out of her seat, going on some sort of tirade in English that Homura couldn't even guess at.

Hitomi smiled and turned to Homura. "She says even the pickles are nice!"


	4. Do You Want To Play With Me?

**Bookstore**

"Heh heh heh..." Corbeau was standing at the back of the store, laughing at whatever was in the book she'd opened up. "Oh... wow, this is funny."

Gilles turned to Hitomi and opened the book he'd chosen to show to her. "Someone's scribbled all over this."

Hitomi sighed. "That's Japanese lettering."

Madoka pointed to a single shelf off to the side. "The foreign language books are over there. Maybe they'll have better luck there?"

"Sure." Hitomi looked back to where Corbeau was absorbed in a book already. "I guess she's good, though."

At the foreign languages shelf, Gilles opened the first book that looked to be in French, then closed it again. "I can't recognize these letters either. This isn't going to work. Can we go somewhere else?"

Hitomi shrugged. "Well, okay, I guess so. Hey, Corbeau, we're going now!"

Corbeau just kept laughing at the book. "Ha ha ha... I can't read."

* * *

 **Electronic Entertainment Store**

Homura was following Corbeau around, making sure she didn't try to steal any of the shiny things in the store. There were CDs everywhere, and she had become very interested surprisingly. Corbeau picked out one CD and held it up for Homura to see. The band logo matched the one on her shirt.

"That's... very nice, Corbeau."

Corbeau put it back, then picked out another one. "Oh, hey, I can read this!"

Homura pointed back to where the others were. "Can we get out of the metal section now?"

Not far off, Gilles was staring at a poster that was for sale. Sayaka leaned over to Hitomi and whispered to her. "Okay, I know he's a historically important man, but he's starting to creep me out."

Gilles turned back to them. "This is a very nice picture. Can I get it?"

Hitomi looked to Sayaka. "He's a Miku fan now. You're paying for it, though."

Sayaka grimaced. "Very... very creepy."

* * *

 **Toy Store**

"What is this?"

"That is Lego."

"Okay, what's this?"

"Also Lego."

"And what about this?"

"Still Lego."

Hitomi had come to the realization that Gilles did not recognize the concept of brand names. He also seemed very intrigued by Lego, if you hadn't already guessed.

He picked up another box, this time of some Lele that had found its way into the store. "What's this?"

"Heresy."

He dropped it on the ground and backed away.

Nearby, Corbeau had found plushies. Madoka smiled happily as she watched Corbeau nuzzling a big soft Dongo. There was something about that image that just needed to be. She took a picture with her phone.

Hitomi and Gilles walked over to them, both eyeing Corbeau oddly. Hitomi looked to Madoka. "Is she alright?"

"Give her a break. She probably never had something soft and adorable to cuddle growing up."

Gilles looked down into the bin of plushies. "I'm not sure I understand the appeal here..." He reached down and picked up a Hatsune Miku plush toy. "Is this what I think it is?"

Madoka turned to Hitomi. "Okay, I'm buying the Dongo for her, but I'm not buying _that_ for him."

* * *

 **Movie Theater**

Corbeau held on tightly to her Dongo, her eyes glued to the big screen in front of her. Things were moving very fast and she was having some difficulty following it, but the fact the characters in the movie were speaking English helped her to follow along. Of course, it had been dubbed into Japanese, and Hitomi had explained to her what that meant, but she could read their lips well enough.

She leaned over to Hitomi and pointed at the bald man on the screen. "I wish for an audience with him. He looks like a great and powerful warrior, and his thunder chariot is incredible."

Hitomi laughed, turned, and told Sayaka, who just shrugged. "Everybody wants to meet Vin Diesel. Not likely gonna happen."

Gilles, on the other hand, didn't seem to get the idea behind the movie theater. He was not interested in the slightest.

* * *

 **Pet Store**

"So, let me get this straight. You breed entire species of animals for the sole purpose of being domesticated in a way that has no practical purpose, devote a lot of money to feeding them and caring for them, and get nothing in return. Did I miss anything?"

Hitomi nodded. "Only that animals that are bred as pets tend to be less sturdy than their wild counterparts."

Corbeau thought it over, watching the tiny fluffy gerbils in front of her to help her think. "Rodents are vermin, pests. Normally you'd want to get rid of them, but... these ones are kinda cute."

Gilles appeared beside Hitomi. "So where are the horses?"

"I don't think they sell those here..."

Nearby, Madoka held up a small fluffy white creature for her friends to see. "Homura, look! Isn't he cute! He can even speak!"

Homura choked at the sight of the tiny alien invader. "Madoka, put that down! It's dangerous!"

"Dangerous? But it's a bunny-cat." She poked its tummy. "Go on, show her you can talk."

Homura grabbed Kyubey by his head and threw him away. "I know it can talk, Madoka. It's a dangerous alien monster that wants to eat your soul." She could see that Madoka didn't understand. "It carries infectious parasites."

"But, Homura..."

"No buts! Don't go near it!"

"But you threw it at Sayaka!"

Sayaka pulled the small white alien off her head. "You wanna explain this, transfer student?"

* * *

 **Sports Section**

Gilles looked over the extensive collection of available golf clubs. "I get it. You hit something, probably a ball, and try to land it in a small hole. I can imagine it."

With Hitomi translating, Sayaka was guiding Gilles through the history of sports. She showed him a bag of golf balls. "Yup, and here are the balls you hit. I like sports where I get to hit things, but Baseball is my favorite."

Hitomi translated. "You got it right, and those are called golf balls. Sayaka likes Baseball for some reason. It's a stupid game that involves a lot of pointless running in circles."

Gilles frowned. "I think this Golf sounds better."

"Good."

Sayaka stopped and looked around. "Hey... where are the others?"

* * *

 **Mall Security**

Homura and Madoka waited outside the mall's security office patiently. Madoka turned to Homura. "I can't believe Corbeau got arrested."

Homura was not happy. "She destroyed a mannequin with a baseball bat and led the security guards on a skateboard chase across the hockey rink. Of course she got arrested."

"You're the one who pulled a gun." Madoka pouted at her friend. "Even if it was a spud gun."

"I said I was sorry."

Madoka cross her arms. "I'm pretty sure Corbeau did too, they just don't know that because they can't understand English." She brightened up. "You think they would understand sign language? How about semaphore?"

Corbeau was shoved out the door, which was then slammed behind her.

Homura sighed. "I think it's time to go home."


	5. Last Stop on the Highway of History

Homura woke up the day of the history report to find her cellphone ringing. She picked it up and stuck it to her ear. "Yellow. Good Homura Akemi speaking."

" _Homura. Something is wrong._ " It was Madoka. " _There's a strange man in my room._ "

That wasn't good at all. Homura sat up and put her feet on the floor. "A man? What kind of man?"

" _I don't know... he looks like one of those personages of historical significance._ "

"Oh, is it Gilles de Rais? Tell him to get out."

" _No, it's not him, and it's not Corbeau either. I don't recognize him. He's wearing a uniform._ "

"Hold on, I'll be right there."

* * *

When Homura arrived at Madoka's house, Sayaka was already there. She waved to her not-friend. "Sup, loser? Madoka call you too?"

Homura nodded. "She said there was a strange man in a uniform in her room. We've got to make sure she's safe."

"What? She just invited me over so we could go over our history report. Strange man?"

They both looked to the front door of Madoka's house. They knew something was up, but they didn't know what. So they ran at the door. Homura jumped and kicked the door open, but really it was Sayaka turning the knob and opening it normally at the same time. Homura's delusion remained intact, though. They both rolled in through the entryway, pointing their fingers like guns around the house to clear it.

Sayaka holstered her not-gun. "Clear. Move in."

They heard laughing from the kitchen. Moving in quietly, they poked their heads out and peered around the corner. In the kitchen, there was a normal weekday breakfast unfolding before their eyes. Madoka's father was making pancakes. Her mother was drinking her coffee and reading the newspaper. Tatsuya was in his chair, trying to stab a cherry tomato. Madoka was helping her father bring the pancakes to the table. The only problem was the extra people seated at the table. There were three, and Homura didn't recognize any of them.

Sayaka jumped out from hiding. "Hey, I'm here! What's happening? Any pancakes for me? Who are our new visitors?"

Madoka waved at her friend. "Glad you could make it. These guys have been appearing all morning. This is Frank, Snorri, and Erwin."

Homura stepped out and inspected the strangers. "Odd... this shouldn't be happening unless... perhaps our trip back to get Gilles and Corbeau caused some sort of rift in time that has started grabbing people from the past."

One of the three, a girl only a few years older than them and wearing a resized German WWII uniform, leaned back in her chair to look at Homura. "We figured that out already. You should be more careful with that kind of thing."

"Oh, yeah. You're right. Wait a moment, you know Japanese?!"

She shrugged. "I'm from Ibaraki. Don't make me explain it, you're the one who brought me here against my will."

"Against our will too!" Homura turned to the two men. "And what about you? What's your story?"

Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne shook his head, showing that he did not understand a word being said. Snorri Sturluson just quietly ate his pancakes.

Erwin not-Rommel answered for them. "Foreigners. Also, you're Homura, right? You're the one taking responsibility for the damages, aren't you?"

Homura shook her head. "Damages? What, no. I don't... what damages?"

Madoka smiled casually. "Erwin came with a tank."

Suddenly there was a loud crash and the entire house shook. Dust fell from the ceiling, but Sayaka protected the pancakes with her own body. Once it seemed to be over, Madoka ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs to check on her room. Homura followed after her, fearing that something terrible had come through. What they found was Madoka's bedroom door smashed into a million splinters and the barrel of a huge cannon sticking out into the hallway.

The Reki-jo girl came up behind them and looked over their shoulders. "That's not from my tank."

Madoka pushed past the man and looked into her room. "ANOTHER ONE LANDED ON THE FIRST!"

A man climbed out of the second tank. He looked around him and spotted Madoka. "... _Entschuldigung._ "

"Homura, fix this now!" Madoka turned and grabbed her friend's shoulders, shaking her violently. "My stuffed bunny is under there!"

Homura was frozen with the weight of the ridiculous responsibility now being placed on her shoulders. "There's no way... I don't know how this could have happened."

Sayaka appeared behind her, looking past a frantic Madoka to see a tank on top of another tank on top of Madoka's bedroom. "Uhh... that's not my fault. I refuse to be blamed for any part in this."

Homura turned around and walked out of the room, down the stairs, and to the front door. "Where is Gilles and Corbeau? They should be here somewhere. There's no reason for them to be absent in all of this."

Madoka rushed out past her, hauling Homura around behind the house to where they couldn't be seen. "You need to deal with this. There's no way it's anyone's fault but yours. You're the one with the time travel device. It has to be you, and that means you have to fix it, so fix it!"

"Okay, fine, I'll fix it, but we have to get to school soon. Our report is today, and we have to be there or all this is for nothing." She transformed into her Magical Girl outfit and held up her left arm. She was about to take off her time device to try and figure out what went wrong when she noticed the problem before she could even start. It was a glaring problem that answered a lot of questions right off. "It's gone. Someone's stolen it."

Sayaka jumped around the corner. "Your time thingy is gone? Why would someone- who could have stolen it? Who could possibly know to steal it?"

Suddenly, they heard thumping coming from the shed nearby. After quickly exchanging worried looks, they approached the door. Homura reached up and unlocked it. The door swung open to reveal Gilles, who had been locked up all night. Corbeau, however, was absent.

* * *

Corbeau, the Raven Magical Girl, stood atop the tallest tower in the city, looking out over this new world she'd found herself in. She glanced down at the magnificent new weapon she had strapped to her arm, stolen from Homura. With it, she could both control time and store anything she desired. She was unstoppable now. No... now, she would do the stopping. Now, she could stop time itself.

She looked down at her soul gem.

She could use it to her heart's delight, and never have to pay the price.


End file.
